khaug

Hi all. We're scheduled to pick up our CDI on 9/29 in Sindelfingen. We plan to be in Germany 10 days and want to get the most out of it.

I'll greatly appreciate hearing your experiences with ED, good or not so good. What must-do things did you do? What did you not do that you wish you did? Our tentative plans so far include a Rhine cruise and a trip into the Swiss alps.

Regards,

-Karl

saffrontiger

Try this website below. I have heard amazing things about this. Let me know what u think. My wife and I were going to do this but ended up not doing ED and just picked up our locally.
www.romantischestrasse.de
It's available in english.

TPAbnz

We're planning a CDI pick-up in November, 2004.

1. Consider paying for your own first night in Stuttgart. The Marriott is considerably closer to the factory than the Intercontinental. Then, use that free hotel night to stay at one of the really nice (and substantially more expensive) properties they offer in the ED program. For example, the Hôtel Le Faubourg is about $650 per night in Paris.

2. If you've ordered Navigation, MB will let you use the European set for free. They charge your card at the delivery center and refund it when you turn your car and the discs in.

3. My wife and I boarded the KD Line in Cologne for a 2 night Rhine trip. Very nice!

Good luck on your trip; please post a report on your return.

DWP

If you're planning to drive the Swiss Alps in early October, you might want to check when the Swiss Army calls out the reserves (which is basically the whole army) for annual exercises this year. We took Munich delivery of a BMW in '84, in early October (Oktoberfest!), and also crossed the Swiss Alps (twice). It was beautiful, but we did spend a lot of time following Swiss Army trucks on winding two-lane roads because of their maneuvers.

DavidNJ

Just for the record, our planned September trip is:

Stuttgart**-Ludwigsburg-Wurzburg*-Other Stop*-Nuremburg-Rothenburg ob der Tauber*-Nordlingen-Ulm-Fussen**-Oberammergau-Innsbruck-Kitzbuhel"-Berchtesgaden-Salzburg**-Chiemsee-Dachau-Munich***-Melk-Durnstein-Vienna****

Asteririsks indicate an overnight stay. We are using MB for Kitzbuhel. While they had a great hotel in Munich...we didn't want to pay for the other nights. We booked their hotel in Munich for $163/night via Octopus. We also used Octopus to book SchlossHotel Lisl in Hohenswangnu for $125/night. It was also on the MB list. The other hotels were booked directly via the hotel.

BoSoxFan

I agree with Saffrontiger about the Romantic Road (http://www.romantischestrasse.de/). I have driven most of it -- different segments at different times -- and it's a beautiful drive through many picture postcard pretty villages and a couple of historically significant cities (Wuerzburg, Augsburg). IMO, this area has some of the best wines in Germany, better than those of the more celebrated Mosel. When driving off the autobahns, remember that, in Germany, there are strictly enforced speedlimits of 100km/h on the secondary roads between towns and 50km/h in the towns (marked by little yellow signs with the name of the town). If you are looking for places to stay, check out http://www.flairhotel.com/design/startseite/index.htm. I have stayed in several of their hotels and have always been pleased. Oktoberfest ends on 10/3 this year so you will arrive in the middle of the last week of the festival. Sindelfingen, Stuttgart and other towns in the area all have their own local fests which in my opinion are better than Munich which has become horribly overcrowded in recent years.

khaug

Thanks, all, for great suggestions.

Unfortunately, it's too late now for me to take advantage of the great tip on the Hôtel Le Faubourg, as our reservations have already been made at the Graf Zeppelin in Stuttgart (which has replaced the Intercontinental). The Romantic Road info and Rhine trip both sound great, and will be given much scrutiny!

I've previously driven in Germany (tourist delivery trip in '84 to pick up a Porsche), so I have some idea what I'm getting into. My impression of German drivers is that they are orders of magnitude more competent and attentive than their American counterparts, and I felt relaxed and at home after just a couple of days there.

Regards.

-Karl

BoSoxFan

I stayed in the Graf Zeppelin four years ago when I picked up a Porsche in Zuffenhausen -- a very nice hotel which is in the center of town and right across the street from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). If you are not flying into Stuttgart and are taking land transportation from Munich or Frankfurt, I highly recommend the ICE high speed train. You can make train reservations on line at http://www.bahn.de/pv/view/index.shtml. There is an English option. IMO, it's worth paying the extra few euro for a first class ticket.